It's been over two months since I've updated this blog and even though I browse through the web and meet/talk and socialize with many of you on various networking sites, I have to be honest that something inside me is not the same as before. The months after my father's passing haven't been easy on any of us in the family but it's been even tougher on our mother who is often hears him calling her name out for something. His presence in every room is still felt and even though we are comforted in the thoughts that he is around us and amidst us, the helplessness and not being able to see his physical self is just beyond any words could explain.

For me, there have been sudden and unannounced crying bouts at odd times and odd places, more so in my car while going home after work, which automatically disappear after some time. They are like spasms that come fast and make you feel like nothing in the world matters any more. All kinds of emotions, anger, helplessness, frustration, sadness, depression – any of these prop up at different times causing a lot of stress. Needless to say, it's been one of the most difficult things I have experienced.

With so much stress there have been many days when it became a burden to just get through the day let alone accomplish something. But, I am managing well so far. And the credit goes to all of you. My online community of friends – who are the reason I am able to write this post. You are the reason I have been able to keep my sanity many days when all else failed. The days when during my sadness, I didn't have the energy to do anything, when I wanted to be all alone yet needed the quiet support. It was easier reading your emails and short messages full of love, support and advice on twitter and StumbleUpon, than picking up the telephone to talk to someone. Your kind gestures, expressions of sympathy and offers to help out with this blog, everything – comforted and helped to pick up my spirit.

So, in this post, I want to take the time to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for being there for me.

68 Responses
to “ little things that give us hope ”

although it may sound a tad odd coming from me, since i really do not know you, and i just stumbled upon your site… but sometimes, hope comes from the strangest places, and its all good… but i do wish that one day that you’d get to pluck that lil’ thing called hope from within…

Pearl girl, we’ve been in constant communication more by email than our blogs. As you’re likely aware, I went through the same heartache when my father passed away, who was my rock and last remaining immediate family member. I was and still do feel entirely alone ever since, despite having numerous good friends.

There is no formula or magic recipe to get you past the hard times. It works differently for each of us, and we all have different lengths of time as to how long it takes to begin healing. But the one thing that has helped me to maintain sanity is my firm belief that I will get to see him again one day. So it isn’t ‘good-bye,’ it’s ‘see you again one day.’

Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one’s life. Hope implies a certain amount of despair, wanting, wishing, suffering or perseverance — i.e., believing that a better or positive outcome is possible even when there is some evidence to the contrary.

usage of the term hope follows some basic patterns which distinguish its usage from related terms:

* To wish for something with the expectation of the wish being fulfilled.
* Hopefulness is somewhat different from optimism in that hope is an emotional state, whereas optimism is a conclusion reached through a deliberate thought pattern that leads to a positive attitude. But hope and optimism both can be based in unrealistic belief or fantasy.
* When used in a religious context, hope carries a connotation of being aware of spiritual truth; see Hope (virtue).
* In Catholic theology, hope is one of the three theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity), which are spiritual gifts of God. In contrast to the above, it is not a physical emotion but a spiritual grace.
* Hope is distinct from positive thinking, which refers to a therapeutic or systematic process used in psychology for reversing pessimism.
* The term false hope refers to a hope based entirely around a fantasy or an extremely unlikely outcome.

@Learn PHP: true, it’s been the biggest and sincerest support for me and it’s long lasting too since I can go back to everyone’s messages and read them over and over and feel the love.. thanks for stopping by!